So long, folks! (Blog Entry 14)

Blogging was an experience to say the least. At first I was not comfortable doing it at all. It felt really personal and a little scary, I didn’t like sharing my thoughts and having people interpret them one way and comment on them. As we entered the second week I began to feel a little more comfortable. My favorite blog was when everyone had to post about a blogger that they read. It was really light-hearted and fun, I got to check out a lot of new websites and experience new internet things!

 

Blogging is really easy now. All I do is post what’s on my mind. I don’t really edit it. I just want to get everything down and not worry if I sound dumb or immature. I use my blogging as a way to just throw all my thoughts together so I don’t forget them, usually just coming back to them later. It worked out surprisingly well, I knew when I posted something that wasn’t well written that there would be snarky comments and I took it all with a grain of salt. Every time I came to a dead end in my papers I would just return to my blog and pick our ideas that I had written about a few days prior.

 

The worst part of blogging for me was comments. I don’t know why it was so difficult for me to do three a day. Maybe because after I had just written a blog post I felt bored going back and reading comments. I’m not really sure. Writing the blogs was easy but posting the comments took thought and time. The time issue was my biggest concern. I actually enjoyed reading other’s blogs just like I enjoyed editing papers. I was taking two other summer classes at the same time on campus and it was hard to dedicate myself to blogging and commenting.

 

Maybe not necessarily blogging, but the act of writing every day has definitely improved my skills. Having to sit at the computer and force myself to write has made the words come easier. I could easily write a paper in an hour as opposed to before when I would have to get myself going days before and usually finish it the morning it’s due. I’ve really enjoyed reading other’s papers and blogs getting to know their personas and writing styles. I think it really influenced a lot of my writing. 

 

I hope to continue blogging, with the possibility of not sharing it but keeping it for myself. Just tidbits of what is going on in my life. I think it is a great way to keep track of memories and stories just like Allie Brosh did, just maybe not as dramatic!

Artsy Fartsy (Blog Entry 13)

Like many other people I have stumbleupon-ed many unique and creative resume sites. As a graphic design major I understand the importance of an eye-catching resume, it needs to be catchy but not too flashy. There has to be a balance, and sometimes that is hard to achieve. In the digital age there is a push to be the best and always have be up on the “new” things. Resumes are rarely printed anymore and a lot of companies ask for them to be submitted online. This opens up a wide range for artists to submit playful, interactive resumes.

Elliot Hasse’s resume is one of the most interesting I found. I love his simplistic color choice, only using three colors. His use of graphic and intensity really draws the eye from one piece of his resume to the next. I wish his writing on the left was a little easier to read but the timeline on the right is very interesting. A resume is somewhere for you to brag about your skills, but you don’t want to come off as a know-it-all. I think Elliot struggles with this, clearly he’s very talented and knows a lot about computers and graphic design but I absolutely hate the “Weapons of Choice” section. Yeah, it’s clever and it’s one of the most important parts of his resumes because knowledge of those fields are detrimental in the graphic field. But…it annoys me, I don’t know why. Maybe because all the bullets are going down or maybe I’m just not a fan of the metaphor. I’m not sure.

Elliot is clearly targeting a specific audience. He’s not looking for an average job, he’s looking for a graphic related job that he can utilize his talents. I’m sure he’s gotten a lot of attention from his resume and hopefully he’s gotten a few jobs as well!

500 Days of Real Life (Blog Post 12)

One of my favorite movies is “500 Days of Summer”. Everyone has a love hate relationship with this movie. I love it because the actors are so real. So while there aren’t a lot of dramatic effects or really any effects at all the story is moving. This is my go to movie whenever I am feeling down and need to lament in someone else’s pain.

 

We start out meeting a man named Tom, the narrator introduces us to a woman named Summer and tells us “while this is a story about love, this isn’t a love story.” The movie is told in a series of flashbacks, the movie will show us the 322^nd day that Tom and Summer know each other and then go back to the 18^th day that they knew each other. Tom is instantly infatuated with Summer, thinking of her always. Summer is described as a “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” stock character that shows up in a lot of indie films. Tom sees Summer as perfect and thinks they are in a relationship while Summer has never been comfortable with the idea.

 

Then, she rips his heart out and stomps on it. The moving response that this movie makes is everyone experiences heartbreak, it is real and sometimes there isn’t a happy ending. In so many romcoms or big romantic movies the girl is always the one heartbroken and upset, but in the end the guy always realizes what he gave up and comes running back for her. That doesn’t happen in “500 Days of Summer”. Summer moves on and gets married. The shock of Summer not coming back to him leaves Tom a wreck, he begins to reinvent himself by leaving his dead end job and looking for an architecture internship. And there is where he meets Autumn and day count starts over again.

 

When Tom gets his heartbroken it’s impossible not to feel it. If you don’t get emotional when he sees Summer at the party showing off her engagement ring you have no soul. None.

 

This movie has been criticized by many people, my boyfriend particularly. He hates this movie. He thinks Summer is to put it nicely, is a bitch. But he still ignores my argument that if the roles were reversed and it was Summer who was in Tom’s position the movie wouldn’t work. We just have to agree to disagree.

 

Oh! Here’s a Wiki link about Manic Pixie Dream Girls. It’s really interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Pixie_Dream_Girl

The Need for Perfection (Blog Post 11)

Ok so I just watched the Black Swan, and I’m trying to deal with it. I thought my friends had spoiled it for me, but apparently I was wrong. SHE DIES!?!?!? Sorry I’m still just freaked out a little. And that Thomas guy? Please. He is so, ew. Her life actually played out Swan Lake, I should have seen it coming but I’m blind. But anyways, I just had to get that out. I’ll try to retain my shock and write my blog post.

Natalie Portman’s character Nina is crazy. What really interested me about her was her narcissism and the constant striving to be perfect. I don’t know how to word that differently. She was so obsessed with herself, you can tell because when she was hallucinating she saw herself everywhere. It was so interesting. I don’t know a lot about the dance community (except for that I already spilled the beans on my obsession with Dance Moms) but I know that there is an insane obsession with being perfect.

I think that was the most interesting part. It wasn’t only Nina who was obsessed with being perfect, Beth was another perfect example and to some extent Lily. Nina broke her big toenail (which is still grossing me out), scratches herself and thinks of nothing else but dancing all day and all night. She doesn’t eat the cake her mom buys her in celebration and even during her performance she accidently stabs herself, which gives her more inspiration to be perfect. As she’s dying she says, “I was perfect.”

Beth had hit 40 and no longer to be a dancer. When you put that much pressure on your body day in and day out it has to give up sometime. Unfortunately, Beth wasn’t ready to give it up. With the resolution that the only thing she had ever been good at, something that she had reached Nina’s version of “perfection” was now over. Beth felt like she had nothing left to live for and threw herself in front of a car. When Nina goes to visit Beth in the hospital she tells Beth all she ever wanted was to be perfect like her.

Never Have I Ever (Blog Entry 10)

I have never seen Black Swan. This comes to a complete shock to everyone I know. I’ve been obsessed with ballet since I was younger and actively participated in gymnastics until I was 13. Not the same as ballet, but it required the same amount of time and I had absolutely no rhythm so I clearly wasn’t cut out for ballet. Now I spend my days stalking ballerina’s twitters and watching re-runs of Dance Moms. Don’t hate, it is one of the top five reality programs on television.

 

Honestly, I never really had an interest in seeing it. When it came out I was kinda creeped out to say the least, but Mila Kunis is in it so I knew I had to get over myself and see it. By the time I had crawled out from under my rock everyone I knew had already seen it. And they ruined it for me, of course.

 

The movie was promoted EVERYWHERE! Online, commercials, I swear Fandango sent me multiple texts and emails about seeing it. The artistry of the movie is said to be phenomenal and the way it shows the world of ballet is supposed to be riveting. I know when I sit down and watch the movie tomorrow I won’t be disappointed.

 

The actresses in the movie are phenomenal in every other role they’ve played, so I doubt this will be any different. Not to mention the awards and accolades this movie has received. I just wiki-d it to get an accurate account of how many awards it received 63 wins for various awards including Best Actress and Movie of the Year. It was nominated for almost 200 awards.

 

The billboards are the media that stick with me the most. The close-up of Natalie Portman’s face with the make up and very intense eyes. After seeing those posters you can tell that this movie is going to be a psychological thriller.  

The All-American Girl (Blog Post 9)

I know most boys in this class will have never heard of the American Girl dolls unless they had a sister that was obsessed with them. I had actually forgotten them until recently my parents and I were cleaning out my attic and I found boxes of them, luckily untouched by smoke damage. I forgot that I had every single doll, accessory and book that went with them. I actually learned to read by reading these aloud to my parents every night before I went to bed. By the time I stopped collecting them there were twelve American Girls and I still remember each girl’s unique story now.

For those of you that have never heard of American Girl it is a company that produces historical dolls from different time periods and then a set of books to go with them. All the girls are suffering some kind of hardship that’s current to their times; Felicity is living through the Revolutionary War, Kit’s family is suffering from the Great Depression and Molly’s dad has gone off to fight in World War II. My favorite doll was Kirsten; her family emigrated from Sweden to Minnesota in the 1850s. Of the original dolls she was the only one that was blonde and as a four year old I really identified with her. All of my other friends were obsessed with Samantha and Molly but I thought they were so-so.

These books were very unique because while they were chapter books, each was about 50 pages long and had a few full-page pictures every chapter. When I began reading these as a child I didn’t really understand what went wrong so the pictures really helped to guide me and make a connection in the story. In one of Kirsten’s books she rescues a baby raccoon that ultimately sets her house on fire, I don’t remember the result on it but I do remember thinking well I’m never bringing a baby raccoon into my house. These books were an interesting take on children’s literature; most books that are marketed for girls around that age are about clothes and Barbie’s or princesses. The American Girl’s were all about normal girls that always made it through some kind of hardship. It was also interesting to learn about the American history that was affecting the characters which a lot of children’s books don’t go into.

Fairytales Revamped (Blog Post 8)

I think something really interesting that graphic novels have that “normal” novels lack are the interjections of comedic relief. At first I didn’t quite understand why there were little interjections from Beauty and the Beast or Pinnochio, but as the story went on I began to enjoy those even more. When it was Snow and Bigsby it was constant drama and interrogation, no fluff. All of their scenes are very pointed and full of plots and clues, the interjected scenes are fun and interesting, giving us a look into more of the fairytale world.

The Beauty and the Beast was definitely my favorite, it was the first movie I had ever seen in theaters and it has always been my favorite Disney Movie. I used to watch it two or three times a day for months when I was younger, pretty pathetic I know. In the novel  I love how the Beast and Belle are having marital problems and when belle gets mad at the Beast he reverts back to his monster form. I think this was a very unique reaction, considering they have been better for centuries I’m not surprised that they get into little tiffs once in awhile. The best was when she wanted to buy the lottery ticker and Beast said it was too expensive then the announcer interjects that if you buy five tickets you get a discount. I like that the characters went from being in fairy tales to dealing with real life issues.

Another great thing about Fables are the random fairytale characters thrown in there. Like randomly seeing Cinderella or Little Boy Blue, I like that the artist has made them so recognizable. It’s easy to create a parallel between their original stories ad where they are now, it feels almost like a class reunion of some kind.

Whodunnit??

The possible death of Rose Red is pretty intriguing. I have so many ideas on who the killer could be. At this point I think a group killed her because excuse my French but Rose Red kinda sounds like a slut. I think Bluebird, Jack and Snow teamed up together to kill her. Or maybe Prince Charming and the Wolf. I’m clearly all over the place, but I’m really intrigued. I think Rose Red just screwed over too many people and the fables characters were fed up with her shenanigans. I can’t wait to find out what happened to her and if she’s even dead or just had a major bloody nose.

I’m most interested in the character of Snow White. I think she’s a very complex character. I’m reading the book on my iPad so I don’t have any of the same page numbers but for me the most intriguing scene was when Snow started crying. I felt it was very out of character and made me suspicious of her. It’s doubtful that she actually cares about her sister since the reason her and Prince Charming got a divorce was because she slept with him. It’s weird for a sister to do that and I don’t blame Snow for not caring what happens to Rose Red.

I also think that Snow’s relationships with all of the men in the story are very interesting. It’s weird that she has inserted herself into the case and has become so close with the Wolf since it seems they were nothing more than acquaintances before. She is also so calm about being a suspect in her sister’s murder. I have a gut feeling that she is not the person she says she is. I’m not sure if that’s accurate or not but I guess I will just have to keep reading to find out!

Bend (Blog 6)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexameade/5952911975/in/photostream

I chose the banana image because I thought it was an interesting image. The background looks like a striped red and white fabric with a 3d banana in the lower left hand corner. The banana creates a contrast between the yellow and the red and white tablecloth. I really enjoy the positioning of the banana, it’s very specific yet carefree.

This image is meaningful because it’s relatable; everyone carelessly leaves their fruit around the kitchen. And with the realistic tablecloth in the background it’s like a modern still life. In this image Meade is perfecting her technique of using a 3d item on a 2d background and then photographing it. The banana was used with this background because of the contrast in color to bring most attention to the detail she put into the banana. I think the technique she uses is innovative and unusual, intriguing the viewer to want to know more. The fact that she takes a 3d object and flattens it to a 2d photo is really interesting.

I’m interested in the way that Meade utilizes social media. She treats herself as if she’s a company. I am a social media intern at EVOL burritos and the skills I’ve learned about marketing through this internship are unbelievable. You always have to keep up with the times and keep your name out there. Meade does this by putting herself out there in every form and I think that is very interesting.

Why Do I Have a Blog? (Blog Post 5)

http://whydoihaveablog.net/

This is a very unique blog; it’s about not having a blog. I found her through Zooey Deschanel’s site Hello Giggles. Caragh, the author of this blog is hysterical. She’s amazing and real and relatable. Caragh is currently travelling throughout Israel, and documenting her efforts. She’s gotten hurt at least five times in very unique ways. I’ve been following her blog and her predecessor Erin Grace’s blog (http://adorablyvulgar.tumblr.com/). Erin’s blog is by far my favorite on the Internet but she’s 17 and her mom grounded her from tumblr so she would go outside this summer.

The great thing about these two blogs is everyone is their audience relates to them. Whether it was you feeling awkward in college or you feeling awkward in high school. These blogs provide humor through visual stimulates as well as wordy stories detailing the events from day to day lives. For such young women they have a great control of their rhetoric, they can take every day activities that happen to everyone and make them dramatic and interesting.

I recommend this blog if you have a lot of free time on your hands, or you enjoy making fun of reality tv shows.  These blogs read like diaries and are addicting. They are both very unique people sharing their thoughts and feelings without caring if people on the Internet are judging them.